Plug-in Manager

1. Select Preferences > General Preferences.

2. In the General Preferences window, open the File Paths section.

3. In the Plugin search path field, type the folder location of the plug-ins:

   $YOURPATH/plug-ins/lib

4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the Preferences window.

exportBakedOrientation.plugin

This plug-in exports to a .wire file with zeroed transforms and Opposite flags cleared, but with surfaces and meshes having the same orientation as they did previously.

exportCurveCoordinates.plugin

This plug-in exports the coordinates of selected curves to a text file. When loaded, you can access this plug-in by selecting Files > Export > +Export Curve Coordinates. Click the icon to access the options window.

The coordinates are sampled relative to the X, Y, or Z axis, or relative to the parameter. Note that when sampling along an axis, the bounding box of a curve is used to determine its range. As a result, the range is usually larger than the curve.

Specify an axis or parameter by selecting it from the list beside With respect to.

Sampling mode

Samples can be taken in one of two ways: Subdivision or arc length.

• Subdivision - The range of the curve on the relative axis is equally divided by the number of subdivisions requested.

• Arc Length - Sampling starts at the low end of the curve and proceeds in equal step sizes towards the high end.

Sample Degree 1 curves - This option is on default. When off, only the points that compose the curve are written regardless of the sampling parameters used.

Specify what is written to the resultant text file under Output Options.

ImportFAC.plugin

This plug-in lets you read files in the proprietary Unigraphics Facet format. The FAC data is converted into AlPolysets. After starting the plug-in, browse to the location of the FAC file that you want to translating to the Alias Universe. There is no option to produce FAC files from Alias objects.

The files are in a binary format that consists of the following:

• FAC_prototypes.p, which contains the prototypes for the plug-in.

• FACToAl.c++, which contains the exit and entry points for the plug-in.

• ConvertFACFile.c++, which converts the given FAC file into the Alias Universe.

For more information, see the ImportFAC.README located in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AliasAutoStudio<version>\ODS\OpenAlias\plugins\DataTransfer\help directory.

importRMSReferences

Use this plug-in to import file references from .rms files. You can then import the data from those references using the Alias Reference Manager.

When loaded, access the plug-in by selecting File > Import > +Import RMS References.

1. Select File > Import > +Import RMS References and browse to the location of the .rms files you want to import. The selected file is parsed and any Reference values are imported as reference files in the Reference Manager.

2. In the Reference Manager, click the Update All icon .

Only references from Alias-supported file formats can be imported by the Reference Manager.

Limitations

This plug-in supports adding references with the supplied file path and transformation. Other entries, such as Variants, are not supported.

RMS file details

RMS is a JSON-like format. It contains a list of nodes defined by a name followed by a value in brackets {}.

The value in brackets may contain any number of exactly one of these types: nested RMSNodes, Boolean values (True or False - case sensitive), Numbers (stored as doubles), or strings (in ""). Mixed values are not allowed. For example, Node{ True 1.5 } results in an error.

The values are separated by spaces or new lines. A # denotes a comment, and anything following the # on the same line is ignored.

packReference.plugin

When loaded, access the plug-in by selecting File > +Pack Reference. Use this to stores all your reference data in the same folder for easy transfer. This includes your .wire file and all the reference files it points to.

You can access this functionality in the Reference Manager. See Pack reference data.

saveLayers.plugin

This plugin takes the contents of individual layers and writes them to separate .wire files. The names of the files consist of a combination of the stage name and layer name.

The plugin can be found in the Layers menu, and it will prompt you to specify a location for where to save the layer.

All layers are saved by default. The choice to save selected layers only, or to not save invisible layers, is available in the option window .

colorToGrayScale.plugin

Use the Color to Grayscale plug-in to change a color image to grayscale. When loaded, you can access this plug-in from the Markup tool palette.

1. Select the canvas image you want to convert to grayscale.

2. Click the Color to Grayscale tool in the Markup tool palette.

   The color image is converted to a greyscale image.

erasePaper.plugin

Use the Erase Paper plug-in to remove a color by making it transparent. After loading this plug-in, you can access it from the Markup tool palette.

To use the Erase Paper plug-in:

1. In the Canvas Lister (Windows > Canvas Lister), select the canvas you want to affect.

   

2. To open the tool, double-click the Erase Paper tool in the Markup tool palette.

   

3. Double-click the Erase Paper color swatch, then select the Pipette icon in the Color Editor.

4. Use the pipette to select the color you want replace on the canvas.

   You can also use the Erase Color slider to adjust the color value.

5. Click Go, to replace the color.

   The color is removed.

6. Repeat the process for another color if needed.

blindData.plugin

Use this plug-in to add blind data to objects or to the Alias Universe. After loading this plug-in, you can access it from the Object Edit tool palette.

This plugin adds two tools to the Object Edit palette, +Attach Blinddata and +Attach Universe Blinddata.

You can view the documented source code in the examples section, as well as several references to blindData in the Alias API Guide.

bestFitPlane.plugin

Use this tool to create a best-fit construction plane to a curve or a set of curves. After loading this plug-in, you can access the tool from the Construction tool palette.

• To create a best-fit plane, select the desired curves to fit, then click the Best Fit Plane to Curve tool.

  The construction plane will be created.

Lock Ends

When on, the plane passes through the first and last CVs of the selected curve or group of curves.

cleanupCurveOnSurface

Use this tool to clean up Curves on Surfaces that are not involved with trim operations. After loading this plug-in, you can access this tool by select Delete > +Delete Unused Curves on Surfaces.

To clean Curves on Surfaces from specific surfaces:

1. Select the desired surfaces.
2. Select Delete > +Delete Unused Curves on Surfaces > .
3. Select Picked Items, and click Go.

cleanupModel.plugin

Use this tool to clean up the geometry to match the conditions of the CAD systems you are using. After loading this plug-in, you can access the tool from the Object Edit tool palette.

The Cleanup Model tool does the following things:

• Converts every face geometry to trimmed surface geometry.
• Checks the connectivity of every surface and every region in a shell.
• If there are any break, the surface or shell is split at the breaks into more than one surfaces.
• If the base surface is closed, such as cylinder, the surface or the shell region is split into two non-closed regions.
• Makes sure every geometry DAG node and every region has a persistent ID. If one does not exist, the tool creates one.

Double-click the Cleanup Model icon, and choose from the following options:

convertFaceToSurface.plugin

Use this tool to convert groups of faces to trimmed surfaces that you can manipulate without being concerned about planarity. It is particularly useful for converting all the faces that are created with text, or faces that are left over after a bevel operation. You can select this tool immediately after laying down text, or immediately after performing a bevel. The newly-created trimmed surfaces are left picked.

After loading the plug-in, you can access the tool from the Surface Edit tool palette.

1. Pick the faces you want to convert, then select Faces to surfaces from the Surface Edit palette.

2. If you have nothing picked, you can select the tool first, then pick the faces to convert one by one.

3. You'll be prompted to choose to keep the original faces:

   • Select Yes to make the new surfaces siblings of the face nodes.
   • Select No and the new surfaces appear in the DAG where the face nodes were, and the node names remains unchanged.

create3dTrim.plugin

Use this tool to trim a surface based on a curve that is projected onto the surface. Note that a project normal is done if the perspective window is active. Otherwise, a project is done if the Front, Right or Top modelling windows are active.

After loading the plug-in, you can access the tool from the Trim section of the Surface Edit tool palette.

1. Select the curve to project.

2. Select the surface to project the curve on for trimming.

3. Select the UV region on the surface that you want to the trim operation to keep or discard.

   Note: Multiple UV positions can be kept or discarded.

createPerspCameraVector

Use this tool to create a view vector based on the perspective camera position. This vector is useful for referring back to the view that was set at the time the vector was created.

After loading the plug-in, you can access the tool from the Construction tool palette.

• Select the perspective modeling window in order to create a "view" vector.

  The view vector is created between the the camera eye position and the camera look at point. The view vector has unit length.

Limitations:

• Only works in the perspective window.
• Construction planes are ignored.

crvToSection.plugin

Use this tool to select degree one curves and convert them to section data. After loading the plug-in, you can access the tool from the Modify section of the Curve Edit tool palette.

• You can preselect the curves or select them after you've started using the tool. Only degree one curves can be selected and converted.
• After selecting the curves, click Go to convert them into section data.
• The curves are converted in place; no copies are made.

extractTrimRegions.plugin

Use this tool to extract the regions of a trimmed surface and make them separate trim surface objects. After loading the plug-in, you can access the tool from the Trim section of the Surface Edit tool palette.

globalCrvIntersect.plugin

Use this tool to intersect selected curves. After the plug-in is loaded, you can access the tool from the Curve Edit tool palette.

1. Select the curves that you want to intersect with each other.

   You can select the curves before or after starting the tool.

2. Press the Go button to intersect each pair of NURBS curves in the selection. Other types of selections are ignored.

   Each non-periodic curve is detached at the intersection points and each segment put into it's own DAG node.

globalSrIntersect.plugin

Use this tool to intersect selected NURBS surfaces. After the plug-in is loaded, you can access the tool from the Create CurvesOnSurface section of the Surface Edit tool palette.

1. Select the surface that you want to intersect with each other.

   You can select the surfaces before or after starting the tool.

2. (Optional) Turn on Create History to create construction history for the resulting surfaces.

   

3. Press the Go button to intersect each pair of NURBS surfaces in the selection. Other types of selections are ignored.

optimizeForDraw.plugin

Use this tool to generate mesh objects from each NURBS object in your scene. It works similar to the NURBS to Mesh tool. After loading the plug-in, you can access the Create Optimized Mesh for Drawing tool in the Object Edit tool palette.

pickMultiSpanSurfaces.plugin

Use this tool to select all of the multi-span surfaces in your scene. After loading the plug-in, you can access the Pick Multi-span Surfaces tool from the Pick tool palette.

When you start the tool, it searches through each surface in the scene, identifies the multi-span surfaces, and then selects them. This includes objects contained in invisible layers or have their visibility turned off.

1. Before starting, ensure that you have no other tools invoked by selecting Pick Nothing followed by Pick Object.

   This is necessary since some tools, such as Trim Surface or Skin, clear the pick list when they are invoked. If you have one of these tools selected and invoke the Pick Multi-Span Surfaces tool, the Pick List flashes on and then off. The flash is the pickMultiSpanSurfaces running and the flash off is the Skin tool deselecting the pick list.

2. In the Pick tool palette, click the Pick Multi-span Surfaces tool icon.

Limitations

• Pick Multi-Span Surfaces ignores visibility.

resetTransforms.plugin

Use this tool to reset scaling, translation (movement), and rotation applied to the picked objects. After the plug-in is loaded you can access the Reset Transform tool from the Object Edit tool palette.

shrinkToTrim.plugin

Use this tool to reduce a trimmed surface's underlying NURBS geometry so that it boxes the trim boundary. After this plug-in is loaded, you can access the Shrink to Trim tool from the Trim section of the Surface Edit tool palette.

toggleObjectInvisibility.plugin

Use this to to make objects that are visible invisible, and vice versa. After this plug-in is loaded, you can access the tool options by selecting Display > +Toggle Object Invisibility > .

You can select which objects you want the tool to ignore so that they remain visible in the scene.

viewMoveObject.plugin

Use this tool to translate selected DAGs, CVs, or polyset vertices in the perspective window parallel to the current camera view. This plugin supports translation of multiple objects so you can move multiple objects at the same time. You can also select without using the Pick tool. There is one level of undo/redo while the View Move is active.

After the plug-in is loaded you can access the tool from the Transform tool palette.

• By default View/Move Object tool lets you pick CVs. Click on any CV and drag it in the perspective window.
• To move an object (DAG node) instead of CVs, press Alt and LMB drag the object.
• To pick more objects for moving, press Shift and click on the object or CV you want to select.
• To unpick everything, press Shift and click an empty space in the viewport.
• To undo/redo, press the Ctrl and click.
• Dragging with the MMB constrains movement to horizontal only.
• Dragging with the RMB constrains movement to vertical only.
• You can also select multiple objects using the regular pick tool, then select the View/Move Object tool to move them in the perspective window.

Options

• Default Pick CV - Sets the default selection to pick CVs. When off, the tool picks objects by default, and Alt + click picks CVs instead.

Limitations

• Can't move more than 8192 objects or CVs at a time.
• Can't select an object using Shift + click if any of the objects CVs are already selected.

diagColorToHWShader.plugin

Use this tool to generate new hardware-based shaders from existing diagnostic shaders assigned to objects in your scene. For more information, see Assign Diag. Color as HW Shader.